This invention concerns a noodle machine, particularly a small one used in homes having a shutter for preparing dough being mixed and stirred in a receptacle and removed temporarily for making noodles from the dough mass prepared in the receptacle.
There is a known conventional small noodle machine for home use shown in FIG. 7, which has a housing 10, a receptacle 20 fixed in the housing 10 and having a large hole 201 in a front side, a front cap 30 provided to fit around the large hole 201 and having a cylindrical portion 301 extending forward and an inverted U-shaped plate extending rearward, and a horizontal stirring means 40 having a front screw portion 401 fitting in the cylindrical portion 301, a rear stirring shaft portion 402 with several sidewise stirring bars extending from the shaft portion 402 and a shallow annular groove 403 between the screw portion 401 and the stirring shaft portion 402. The rear side of the receptacle 20 has a square hole 102 for the rear end of the stirring means 40 to fit a little through. A fitting vertical groove 202 is provided in an inner vertical side wall of the receptacle 20 in line with the shallow annular groove 403 of the stirring means 40, so that a lower separating plate 501 is fitted in the fitting vertical groove 202 under the annular groove 403 and an upper separating plate 502 is fitted in the fitting vertical groove 202 on the annular groove. The rear end of the stirring means 40 is connected with a shaft of a motor 80 located on a rear inner side of the housing 10 so that the stirring means 40 may be rotated by the motor 80. And a locking cover 90 is provided to cover the front end of the front cap 30, having a center hole and fixed firmly with the housing 10 by means of bolts 901, 901. The cylindrical portion 301 has at its front end an opening for a sieve 60 having several holes to fit firmly wherein and exposed out of the center hole of the locking cover 90 so that the dough mass prepared in the receptacle 20 may be transported squeezingly by rotation of the screw portion 401 of the stirring means 40 rotated by the motor 80 and pushed through out of the holes of the sieve to become noodles.
In making noodles, flour and water is put into a chamber formed in the receptacle 20 behind the upper and the lower separating plate 502 and 501, the rear side and two opposite sides the receptacle 29, and an upper lid 70 is closed on an upper opening of the receptacle 20. Then the motor 80 is started to rotate the stirring means 40, and the stirring shaft portion 402 mixes and stirs the flour and water into a dough mass until the dough becomes well mixed. Then the separating plate 502 has to be taken off the vertical grooves 202 of the receptacle 20 before the prepared dough mass in the receptacle 20 is moved to the screw portion 401 of the stirring means 40. After the separating plate 502 is removed, the dough mass can be transported squeezingly and gradually into the screw portion 401 by rotation of the stirring means 40 and pushed through the holes of the sieve 60 at the front end of the cylindrical portion 301 of the front cap 30 to come out as noodles.
A user must fit the separating plate 502 in the grooves 202 before preparing dough for noodles, and after a dough mass is well prepared by putting in flour and water in the receptacle 20 and mixed and stirred enough, it has to be remembered to take off the separating plate 502 for permitting the dough mass into the screw portion 401. Otherwise, the dough mass cannot move therein, stopped by the separating plate 502. However, the lower separating plate 501 is not to be taken out, being kept in its position by the lower end and one vertical side fitting in the vertical groove 202 of the receptacle 20, so very liable to shake to and fro in mixing and stirring dough, and even in a worse occasion it may be carried away with the dough mass moved by the stirring shaft portion 402, losing function of hampering dough mass. Structure of the receptacle 20 with the vertical groove 202 on an inner vertical wall and separating plates 501, 502 to be fitted therein makes it quite inconvenient in using this conventional noodle machine.